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Think about the back cover copy of a good book. Try to describe in a few words the essence and “hooks” that will convey your book’s content in the best possible way. Here is a sample of a book that landed a publisher:(Working Title: The Wooing of Jane Grey)Jane Grey’s life was fine. Fabulous career: check. Faithful friend: check. Serving in the church nursery: check. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.And yet… Jane had promised herself she’d never let life become predictable. Now she finds herself thirty-something, feeling a bit lumpy, lonely and lost. A nagging pit in her stomach tells her she desperately needs a change. Proving He has a sense of humor, the Lord deposits not one, but two handsome suitors into Jane’s life – seemingly overnight! Practical Paul Wade, a successful attorney,seems Jane’s perfect match … on paper. Meanwhile, pro hockey hunkster Lindy Barrett is clearly out of her league … or is he?

To decide, Jane must finally seek out that sweet spot lying somewhere between her head and her heart. Whose woo will win the heart of Jane Grey? God knows, but He’s not telling!

Publishers want to know why you are the right person to write this book. They also want to know what platform or connections you have or can create to help promote your book. Here is a sample:

(Working Title: Overcoming Doubts and Depression)

Dr. Rhonda Wilson is a licensed psychologist and holds two advanced degrees. She has published articles in magazines as well as a Christian women’s suspense novel she self published. She has served as director of counseling for two large churches. Her husband, David, is a pastor of a large metropolitan church inIndianapolis and a successful author. Dr. Wilson speaks at many conferences and venues where this book could be sold.

She also has a blog called “Healthy Minds, Holy Hearts” with over 20,000 followers.

Here is an example of how to show the scope of your novel so the editor has a good idea of where you are going, how the plot progresses, the conflicts involved in the story and how it ends. Basically, just give a synopsis of the story.
(Working Title: Watercolor Summer)
Kathleen waits in an airport for her flight when she sees a magazine cover that reads,
“ONE MOMENT IN TIME: WHAT IF YOU COULD RELIVE IT?”
This starts Kathleen remembering the summer she turned 13 and how that summer changed her life forever:
As the only child of a southern aristocratic father and a bohemian artist mother, Kat feels out-of-place no matter where she is; even in her own family. Her parents’ differences in background, values and interests seem to always put Kat in the middle of a veiled conflict. In her world, everyone appears to have self-serving motives. As a result, Kat becomes angry and withdrawn.
In her thirteenth summer, 1969, Kat is dragged by her mother to yet another artist colony on the beaches of Northwest Florida. There, her feelings of isolation and hopelessness unleash into a selfish rage. Self-pity overwhelms her and she contemplates every escape, including suicide.
Malcolm, a mentally challenged boy, who is living at the artist colony in Florida, tries to befriend Kat, but Malcolm’s very presence annoys her to her core. Malcolm’s caretaker, Jeanette, a simple, but lov-ing woman who runs the artist colony, becomes the bane of Kat’s existence, peppering seemingly every moment with ridiculous country wisdom and humor.
As the summer progresses, Kat finds out that Malcolm’s parents had abandoned him at the colony when he was five years old. This tugs at Kat’s heart a little, but her guard goes back up when it be-comes more and more likely that her parents are going to end their marriage.
At summer’s end, Malcolm becomes ill. It is revealed that Malcolm has a congenital heart defect that must be repaired if he is to live. Just before he is to leave for New Orleans’ Oschner’s Clinic, a storm at sea begins to brew and his surgery is in question. One afternoon, Kat goes for a swim in the gulf and gets caught in the undertow. Malcolm had been following Kat and tries to rescue her. Rescue comes for both Kat and Malcolm, but Malcolm’s weak heart is made weaker by his struggle in the water.
Malcolm is taken to the local hospital where he is in critical condition. Meanwhile, Hurricane Camille is fast approaching the Gulf Coast. Kat, Jeanette, Mary Alice, Chandler remain at the hospital to keep a vigil and to wait out the storm. Malcolm’s heart, however, is too weak. Sadly, he dies.
At Malcolm’s funeral, Kat sees a woman who she suspects is Malcolm’s biological mother. When Kat voices her suspicions to her mother, Chan tells her daughter that she also believes this was Malcolm’s mother. Mary Alice Spaulding fills in the details of the back-story on Malcolm and his abandonment at the colony. She had been in contact with Vera, Malcolm’s mother for several years. Vera, who was finally free from an abusive husband, moved back near the colony so that she could keep watch over her son from a distance. What seemed at first to be a mother’s selfish act, begins to look more like an act of mercy.
As Kathleen and her mother leave the colony at the end of the summer, Kathleen begins to see how her life is starting to make more sense.
The Epilogue is Kathleen on the flight she was about to catch during the Prologue. She reflects on how the “stains” of her life, like watercolor on paper, have come together to paint a beautiful scene that only God could have anticipated and ordained.

(Working Title: The Grace-Filled Divorce)
“Can I find God in the grief of my divorce?” is the unspoken question of clients who come to me to help them navigate a confusing and terrifying experience. As Christians, we are told that God is in midst of suffering. Through his incarnation, we understand that God knows the pain that we feel. He wept at the tomb of his friend, Lazarus. He suffered and died on the cross. But the grief and suffering that comes with divorce seems to challenge this assumption. After all, the Bible clearly states, “God hates divorce.” For many of my clients, the logical extension is that God must hate me.
As a result, grief in divorce is given short shrift, if it is acknowledged at all. It is as though divorcing individuals do not have the right to grieve, let alone call upon God in the midst of their suffering. But centuries of Christian writings and contemplative practices attest to the fact that, in the words of John Keats, this life is the “vale of Soul-making”. Pain and suffering, whatever the cause, can be transmuted into a deeper and richer experience of God.
The words, “I want a divorce”, place people at a crossroads without markers. How the journey proceeds depends on the choice made at this intersection. One road leads to years, maybe even decades, of anger and vitriol, courtroom battles, custody fights, and, potentially, multiple failed marriages. The other, less traveled path leads toward peace and a deeper, more nuanced spiritual life. What makes the difference between these two responses to divorce? The willingness to enter into grief and allow it to become a process for spiritual formation.
My book, The Grace Filled Divorce: An Opportunity for Spiritual Formation is written to help readers understand the experience of grief in divorce on both an interpersonal and spiritual level, to transmute the pain of divorce into a transformative experience. Beginning with a foreword written by pastor and author, Chuck Smith, Jr., this book interweaves the stories of Christians whose emotional, personal and spiritual life was transformed by the experience of grief in divorce, with ancient Christian spiritual practices and psychological insights and techniques that have benefited hundreds of my clients. In my practice as a Christian psychologist specializing in relational counseling, I have witnessed the extraordinary benefits that come from consciously entering, with God, into the grief of divorce. Divorce can be the beginning of a new phase in an individual’s spiritual walk; the benefits can bless the lives of others.
OUTLINE
Foreword by Chuck Smith, Jr.
Preface
Introduction
Chapter one. When things fall apart: Laying the Groundwork

Successful Authors

Patty Houser

Writer’s Edge Service! That’s what I tell everyone who asks me how I got my book published. I always thought the hard part would be writing the book. But the hard part was finding a publisher. I quickly became discouraged because most publishers no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts. At first I was skeptical, but figured I had nothing to lose. So, I took a chance. Two months later, I received a call from an acquisition’s editor at Bethany House, a subsidiary of Baker Publishing Group. Had it not been for Writer’s Edge, I wouldn’t be an author today. Thank you, Writer’s Edge!

Jolene Erlacher

Writer’s Edge was a godsend for me. I gave birth to twins in November and did not have time to pursue individual publishers. I prayed and told God that I was going to send my sample chapters to Writer’s Edge. If He wanted me to write this book, I needed Him to provide a publisher! He did!!! Thank you so much for your service!!!

Dr. James Banks

You were the means through which my first book, The Lost Art of Praying Together, was successfully published through Discovery House. I am now on my eighth project with Discovery House.

As a former first-time author, the service that you provide in opening doors is invaluable and unique.

God has used you to touch well over a million lives through the writing ministry He has so mercifully allowed me to have, and I’m deeply grateful. The opportunity to encourage others in prayer (especially the parents of prodigals) is Kingdom work.

Thank you, Writer’s Edge Service. I send this with a prayer that your work will continue to encourage and inspire many.

Dr. Sarah Sumner

Ever since I found the Writer’s Edge, I’ve been recommending it to other writers. It’s a very effective way of “getting found.”

Soon after I posted my latest proposal to them, two different major publishers [WaterBrook & Bethany House] contacted me directly. Although I ended up landing a contract with yet a third publisher [Fortress Press] whom I submitted a proposal to independently, I still think it’s worthwhile, even for seasoned authors, to post on the Writer’s Edge. For me it was a positive experience and well worth the money because I got personally acquainted with editors from two different publishing companies that I wasn’t connected to before.

So much of getting published is finding the right fit—the right publisher for your book. The Writer’s Edge can help you with that.

I was grateful to discover the proposal from Scott Hubbartt at Writer’s Edge. I always review carefully the recommended proposals from Writer’s Edge, and it’s rare that I don’t find at least one that grabs my attention. The contribution of Writer’s Edge benefits all of us in publishing.Bruce Nygren
Senior Acquisitions Editor
Multnomah/Waterbrook, a division of Random House

Dr. Linda J. Solie

Thank you to Writer’s Edge for the invaluable service you provide unknown writers like myself in notifying potential publishers of our work! [My] reviewer was so encouraging to me I just wanted to thank that person and let them know what happened with this proposal. The book was published and released in September 2013 by Bethany House Publishers under the title, Take Charge of Your Emotions: Seven Steps to Overcoming Depression, Anxiety, and Anger.

James W. Miller

The Writer’s Edge was an easy and effective way to get in contact with just the right audience for Hardwired. The structure is user-friendly, the staff are accessible, and it worked exactly the way I hoped! They cut through a jungle of distractions and dead-ends to make publishing a reality.

Laura Frantz

After realizing how difficult it was to get an agent, I submitted to the Writer’s Edge. The day after my work was posted two major publishing houses contacted me and asked to see a partial of my historical fiction novel. Although this didn’t pan out, two more major publishers contacted me as well as several smaller houses. I realized then how well respected the Writer’s Edge is in the publishing industry. Within 9 months I had a 3-book contract with Revell/Baker Publishing Group.

If not for the professionalism of this wonderful service, I’m sure I would still be spending fruitless hours trying to find an agent and break into the market. I reccommend this service to everyone pursuing publication. I’m so thankful for all that the Writer’s Edge has done for me. — Laura Frantz

Melody Bacon, Ph.D.

Divorce is one of those experiences that everyone believes will happen to someone else. So what do you do when it happens to you? Melody Bacon, Ph.D. tells how you as a Christian believer, can walk through the valley of divorce and emerge better and not bitter.

Melody holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, with an emphasis in depth psychology, from Pacifica Graduate Institute and an M.A. in U.S. history from Cal State Northridge. In their private practice, Melody and her husband Ron (a marriage and family therapist), work with couples and individuals facing relationship challenges. They also conduct workshops for pre-engaged couples: Before You Pop the Question, and married couples: Happily Married After.